Brands
Sodexo, Zone Startups launch enterprise foodtech program
MUMBAI: Hospitality company Sodexo , in partnership with Zone Startups, has announced an Enterprise Foodtech Program—an initiative to work with Indian start-ups and closely connect with the local digital and innovation ecosystem to strengthen food offers for its clients and consumers. The program is an effort to extend Sodexo’s Open Innovation Program that is now focusing on Asia Pacific – India and China to explore market-leading innovations.
Sodexo On-Site Services India country president Rishi Gour said, “By associating with innovative start-ups, we aim to transform not only the perception of workplace cafeterias but also the way we operate and serve consumers. With start-ups offering innovative technologies and business models, we look forward to creating new services together and generate a differentiated experience for our consumer. It will allow us to reach consumers in a way we did not do before, create better connections and deliver better customer-centric services and experiences”.
The first cohort of the accelerator program under the partnership with Zone Startups in India is dedicated to identification of new technology and corporate food models, for which start-ups can apply through a dedicated website. Sodexo and Zone Startups will collaborate to identify, assess, test, and validate the most relevant start-ups to coach and run pilots within a Sodexo context.
The one-year program aims to bring new food experiences to Sodexo’s corporate clients and consumers. Overall, the partnership will help Sodexo India to closely work with local digital and innovative players in sourcing and accelerating new technologies and business models for Sodexo business offers.
Sodexo chief digital and innovation officer Belen Moscoso Del Prado said, “We are deploying local initiatives under a global strategy of moving closer to our consumers through such strategic partnerships and are therefore keen to work closely with Zone Startups on attracting partners with leading-edge technologies and emerging business models. We are sure that this partnership will bring new energy to Sodexo’s business in India, and even inspire innovation across other markets.”
Zone Startups India managing director Ajay Ramasubramaniam said, “We are pleased to partner with Sodexo to co-create this first of its kind open-innovation program in the enterprise food experience space. This program opens up collaborative avenues for start-ups working in emerging food services. Sodexo's global domain expertise and large consumer base is a strong ally for selected start-ups to attain scale at speed.”
Brands
Dunkin’ Donuts to exit India as Jubilant FoodWorks ends 15-year franchise deal
The quick service restaurant giant is ending a 15-year franchise partnership with the American doughnut chain, even as it renews its Domino’s agreement for another 15 years
NOIDA: Dunkin’ is done in India. Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd, the country’s leading quick service restaurant operator, has decided not to renew its franchise agreement with the American coffee and doughnut chain, and will wind down its Indian stores in a phased manner before December 31, 2026, bringing a 15-year partnership to a quiet, loss-laden close.
The decision, approved by JFL’s board on March 30, 2026, ends a relationship that began with a Multiple Unit Development Franchise Agreement signed on February 24, 2011. JFL will now evaluate and undertake what it described in a regulatory filing as the “rationalisation and/or cessation of certain operations and/or sale, transfer or disposal of assets and/or assignment or transfer of franchise rights,” all in consultation with Dunkin’s brand owners and strictly within the terms of the original agreement.
The numbers tell the story bluntly. In the financial year 2024-25, Dunkin’ India posted a revenue of Rs 37 crore against a loss of Rs 19 crore — a haemorrhage that was always going to test the patience of a parent company recording revenues of Rs 6,104 crore and a profit of Rs 194 crore in the same period. Doughnuts, it turns out, were never going to move the needle.
The contrast with JFL’s handling of its other marquee franchise could hardly be sharper. Even as it walks away from Dunkin’, the company has just doubled down on Domino’s, signing a fresh Master Franchise Agreement on March 31, 2026, granting it exclusive rights to develop and operate Domino’s Pizza stores in India for 15 years, with an option to renew for a further 10.
JFL, incorporated in 1995 and promoted by the Bharatia family, operates a network of more than 3,500 stores across six markets — India, Turkey, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Its portfolio includes Domino’s and Popeyes on the global side, and two home-grown brands: Hong’s Kitchen and COFFY, a café brand in Turkey.
For Dunkin’, India was always a stretch. The brand never quite cracked the cultural code in a market where filter coffee and chai command fierce loyalty and where the doughnut remains, at best, an occasional indulgence rather than a daily habit. Fifteen years, mounting losses and a parent with better things to spend its capital on was always going to be a difficult equation to solve.
The doughnut has had its last day. The pizza, however, is staying.
